Leading French Muslims say the Danish cartoons that seek to portray an equation of Prophet Mohammed with terrorism symbolise a growing European prejudice against the Islamic world.

"The Prophet founded a peaceful religion, and had by no means the intention of inspiring terrorist fanaticism," Dalil Boubakeur, highest religious leader of the Mosque of Paris, and president of the country's Muslim Council (CFCM, after its French name) told IPS .

"We Muslims want to insist on the peaceful convictions of our religion, and will never accept that it will be deformed," Boubakeur added. He described the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, published on Sep. 30, 2005 by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten as "an unacceptable, intentional misspelling of our beliefs."